The United States and Mexico have a unique and complex bilateral relationship; as neighbors we share significant political, economic, cultural and social ties. Progress on security cooperation and environmental issues directly impact both nations. Mexico is a middle-income country with a thriving private sector, yet it has a poverty rate of over 50 percent and ranks among the worst in the region in terms of income inequality and corruption. These factors fuel the growth of Mexican trans-national crime, undermining Government of Mexico (GOM) institutions, and weakening Mexico’s rule of law. Requiring significant financial and technical resources, these factors have also slowed Mexico’s efforts to fight climate change. 

USAID/Mexico’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) supports three Development Objectives (DOs) to strengthen rule of law and human rights, reduce drug-related crime and violence, and promote transparency and integrity efforts under the Merida Initiative, multi-year, bilateral security cooperation program. A fourth DO supports the President's Global Climate Change Initiative. The Mission actively engages Mexico’s private sector through strategic alliances that encourage innovation and leverage resources to increase program impact, enhance sustainability, and replicate successful interventions across the country.

Crime and Violence Prevention

USAID supports the Government of Mexico’s efforts to improve citizen security through the development of crime prevention models that strengthen community resilience and address risk factors associated with youth involvement in crime and violence-related activities. The most successful approaches are replicated and expanded to other parts of the country with resources and investments from the Government of Mexico, the private sector, and other local and international organizations.

Download the Crime and Violence Prevention information sheet. [PDF, 141K]

Rule of Law

In 2008, the Government of Mexico approved a constitutional reform mandating the nation-wide adoption of a new oral adversarial criminal justice system, to improve the transparency, effectiveness, and efficiency of criminal justice proceedings while protecting due process, promoting assistance to crime victims, and strengthening human rights. Under the Merida Initiative, a strategy for regional security cooperation between Mexico and the United States, USAID’s current rule of law assistance supports the Government of Mexico, civil society, and other legal institutions to transition to the new oral adversarial criminal justice system.

Download the Rule of Law information sheet. [PDF, 173K]

Human Rights

USAID advances the protection of human rights and prevents abuses by providing technical assistance to the Mexican Government and strengthening civil society efforts on human rights protection, public outreach and awareness-raising of human rights violations at a national level. USAID promotes the incorporation of human rights-based approaches  into federal and state-level policies, and facilitates dialogue and engagement between the Government of Mexico and civil society on human rights issues.

Download the Human Rights information sheet. [PDF, 43K]

Global Climate Change

USAID supports national and subnational policy development to advance Mexican-led climate change initiatives. USAID supports Mexican efforts to remain committed to a low-carbon future through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the energy and forestry, land-use and land-use change sectors. Further, USAID supports Mexico’s efforts to establish internationally robust systems for monitoring, reporting and verifying emission rates and reductions, strengthening policies and institutional and technical capacities, and creating a sustainable source of financial support for programs that help mitigate climate change. 

Download the Global Climate Change information sheet. [PDF, 57K]